This disclosure relates generally to automatically generating a thumbnail image for display in association with a program on a television channel.
Thumbnail images of a television program can be presented in various contexts, such as a television guide, online advertisements, or page headers on web pages. Typically, these thumbnail images are pre-selected images, such as publicity photo for the television, and thus do not convey what is actually being shown on the program at the time the user is accessing the information. The thumbnail images are often associated with electronic program guide (EPG) data about the program.
However, merely using an image capture application to capture images from a live video stream may provide images of the program that contain pornographic, unpleasant, gruesome, or otherwise unsuitable content for a general audience and thereby unsuitable for use as a thumbnail image. Similarly, such arbitrarily captured images from a video stream include a blank screen captured between segments of the program, snapshots of commercials, or other inappropriate content. These images have little value to the viewer and do not convey the content of the program.